Roundtable on the Scottish Referendum

On Tuesday, the 7th of October, the
Department of Politics organised a roundtable on the Scottish Referendum that
was held on the 18th of September. The event was attended by
students and political activists, faculty and members of the public. Several
members of staff contributed insights into various aspects of this historic
event. Ignacio Jurado provided a detailed analysis of the vote. Several factors
were discussed: class, age, gender, economic expectations, ideological
commitments, attitudes towards devolution and the establishment. Sandra
Alfonso-Leon provided a comparison between the Scottish and Catalan contexts, focusing
on the role of political elites, the profile of the independence voter and the
position of the rest of the

country. Nick Ritchie approached the topic of
nuclear weapons and discussed the function they played in the vision of
statehood proposed by the SNP for an independent Scotland – a vision
counterpoised to the British foreign and defence policy. Martin Smith broached
the thorny topic of constitutional change in the Westminster model and
highlighted the democratic illegitimacy of the pledges made by the leaders of
the three national parties in the week preceding the referendum. Last but not
least, Jim Buller discussed the implications of the Scottish referendum for the
upcoming national elections and the projected EU referendum. The presentations
were followed by a Q and A period.